PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) Shares Sold by Alaska Permanent Fund Corp

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp reduced its stake in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,131 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in PPL were worth $949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PPL. FMR LLC raised its stake in PPL by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,390,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,726 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in PPL by 13,891.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 11,724,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,229,000 after purchasing an additional 11,640,696 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in PPL by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,237,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,624,000 after purchasing an additional 592,279 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in PPL by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,850,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,405,000 after purchasing an additional 45,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in PPL by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 4,749,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,044,000 after purchasing an additional 103,734 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded PPL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on PPL from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on PPL from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Bank of America upped their target price on PPL from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on PPL from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPL currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.50.

PPL Price Performance

PPL stock opened at $27.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.26. PPL Co. has a 1 year low of $22.20 and a 1 year high of $29.03.

PPL (NYSE:PPL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.02. PPL had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 8.90%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that PPL Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPL Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This is a positive change from PPL’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. PPL’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 103.00%.

PPL Profile

PPL Corporation, an energy company, focuses on providing electricity and natural gas to approximately 3.6 million customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated. The company delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Rhode Island; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky and Rhode Island; and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky.